Amongst some 750 guests, including the royal family and numerous famous faces, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles received the Church of England wedding blessing at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor. The couple married in a private civil ceremony in Guildhall, outside Windsor Castle, in a ceremony limited to nearly 30 guests and children of the bride and the groom. After waving to well-wishers on the nearby streets, the couple was escorted to St. George’s, where Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams gave them a wedding blessing. Both were asked if they will have “resolved to be faithful” and “forsake all others” as long as they live. Separately, they both said, “That is my resolve with the help of God.”

While Queen Elizabeth II did not attend the civil wedding ceremony, she did view the church blessing with her husband, Prince Philip. The service concluded with the guests singing “God Save the Queen” and the cameras zooming in on the stoic face of Queen Elizabeth II. The queen then provided a two-hour reception, after which the couple headed to Balmoral, Scotland to enjoy their honeymoon.

Though Camilla is technically entitled “The Princess of Wales,” she prefers not to use the former title of the late and beloved Princess Diana who passed away in 1997. Instead, she will go by the Duchess of Cornwall. When Charles assumes the throne, Camilla will legally be queen. However, she wishes to be known as Princess Consort, a tactful move considering opinion polls indicated that 70 percent of the population opposed to Queen Camilla.

When the pair met at a polo match in 1970, Camilla allegedly posed the question, “My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great grandfather – so how about it?” At the time, the then Camilla Shand was referring to her forebearer, Alice Keppel, King Edward VII’s seductress. Though Charles and Camilla felt an initial chemistry, they allowed it to fizzle when Charles joined the Royal Navy a year later. In 1973, Camilla then married army officer Andrew Parker Bowles. Though she and Charles remained in contact, Charles’ wedding to Diana seemed to put an end to their romance. The royal couple, however, was plagued with infidelity, separated in 1982, and divorced in 1996.

Charles and Camilla, now both 57, have finally consummated the love that they first felt for each other over 30 years ago and will now continue to hope for the love and affection of the Britons.